2 Psych 160 - 7

Front 1

Attitude

Back 1

• An evaluation of an object in a positive or negative fashion that includes the 3 elements of affect, cognitions, and behavior
o Affect – emotional reactions to the object
o Cognitions – knowledge about the object, beliefs, ideas, memories and images
o Behaviors – when our attitudes are primed (brought to mind), even unconsciously, we are more likely to act n ways consistent w/ the attitude

Front 2

Central route to persuasion

Back 2

• Study (Petty & Cacioppo) – in this study, participants ether read 8 weak arguments in support of a comprehensive exam to be implemented at their school or 8 strong arguments. Person relevance was manipulated by notifying the participants that this exam would be initiated either the following year, or in 10 years. Expertise was varied: half of the participants were told the arguments were generated by a local high school class, and half were told that they were generated by a Princeton professor. Results: when the message was not relevant to the student (take exam 10 years later)—the expertise of the source mattered but the strength of the argument did not. Participants who would have to take the exam were more persuaded by strong arguments.
• Strong arguments lead to attitude change for participants for whom the issue is personally relevant more than for those for who the issue is not relevant
• The expertise of the source of the communication, in contrast, matters more for participants for whom the issue is not personally relevant, suggesting they mainly attend to peripheral aspects of the message

Front 3

Elaboration likelihood model

Back 3

• A model of persuasion that maintains that there are 2 different routes of persuasion: the central route and the peripheral route

Front 4

Peripheral (heuristic) route of persuasion

Back 4

• A persuasive route wherein people attend to relatively simple, superficial cues related to the message, such as the length of the message or the expertise or attractiveness of the communicator
o 3 factors that make the peripheral route to persuasion more likely:
• (1) issue is not personally relevant
• (2) distracted or fatigued
• (3) incomplete or hard-to-comprehend message

Front 5

Identifiable victim effect

Back 5

• The tendency to be more moved by the plight of a single, vivid individual than by a more abstract aggregate of individuals
o As a consumer, one must distrust vivid appeals, particularly those based on individual case histories
o As a presenter of info, the recommendation is the opposite
o Study (levanthal et al.) – he tried to change the smoking habits of participants in 1 of 3 ways. Some were shown a graphic film, others were given a pamphlet w/ suggestions on how to quit smoking, a third group was given the pamphlet and shown the film. Results: the third group decreased their smoking the most Conclusion: in general, it’s advisable to make health ad campaigns frightening and to also provide info about how to act on the fear that’s created

Front 6

attitude inoculation

Back 6

• small attacks upon our beliefs that engage our attitudes, prior commitments, and knowledge structures, enabling us to counteract a subsequent larger attack and be resistant to persuasion
o study (mcquire & papageorgis) – attitude inoculation, in which people use preexisting attitudes, commitments, and knowledge to come up with counterarguments, makes people more resistant to attitude change

Front 7

Message characteristics

Back 7

• Aspects of the message itself, including the quality of the evidence and the explicitness of its conclusions
o High quality messages are more persuasive in generally, especially for people who find the message relevant, who have knowledge in the domain, and who feel responsible for the issue
o High quality messages:
• Explicit conclusions
• Explicitly refute the opposition
• Argue against your own self-interest
o Study (hamill et al.) – vivid information embedded in a personal narrative w/ emotional appeal can be more persuasive than statistical facts that are objectively more informative

Front 8

Receiver characteristics

Back 8

• Characteristics of the person who receives the message, including age, mood, and motivation to attend to the message
o Audience characteristics that influence the likelihood of attitude change:
• Need for cognition – people w/ a high need for cognition are more persuaded by high-quality arguments, and they are relatively unmoved by peripheral cues of persuasion
• Mood – Ronald Reagan was famous for his disarming, infectious humor; Hitler stirred the emotions of his audience
• Age - younger people are more susceptible to persuasive messages than are adults or the elderly